My wife and I are both Americans and came to Bangkok on the 30-day exempt stamp. We would like to stay here for 6-7 months. My wife wants to learn Thai. She registered for a class and they will submit her paper work for a student visa. Our first 30 days are about to expire, and we will do our first visa run in a few days.

Two questions:

1. After we return from our first visa run, we will get another 30-day stamp. During this next 30-day stay, if the student visa paper work goes through, can my wife convert her 30-day stamp to a student visa?

2. If my wife gets a student visa (which lasts for at least 90 days), can I be granted any kind of Non-imm visa to stay with her?

Thanks in advance for any help!

My wife and I are both Americans and came to Bangkok on the 30-day exempt stamp. We would like to stay here for 6-7 months. My wife wants to learn Thai. She registered for a class and they will submit her paper work for a student visa. Our first 30 days are about to expire, and we will do our first visa run in a few days.

Two questions:

1. After we return from our first visa run, we will get another 30-day stamp. During this next 30-day stay, if the student visa paper work goes through, can my wife convert her 30-day stamp to a student visa?

2. If my wife gets a student visa (which lasts for at least 90 days), can I be granted any kind of Non-imm visa to stay with her?

Thanks in advance for any help!

She will NOT be able to convert her tourist visa to ED in Thailand without leaving the country and getting it at a Thai consulate. It might be possible for an international school or a university but for a private language school, not possible at this time, perhaps in the future but I doubt.

You will NOT get any kind of non-immigrant visa because of her having an ED visa, I'm afraid you will need to organize some kind of visa yourself.

Hope it helps.

Walen School of Thai, Mac Walen